Overview

The administration of Richard M. Nixon presented an even more pressing argument
to look at the U.S.-Soviet relationship in its broadest, global context. President
Nixon created a secret, private channel of dialogue and negotiation between the
President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry A. Kissinger, and the
Soviet Ambassador in Washington, Anatoly F. Dobrynin. The documentary record of that
channel is presented in its entirety in this volume, as well as a virtually complete
record of the Moscow Summit. In his relations with Moscow, President Nixon insisted
on linkage of other issues, e.g., Vietnam, the Middle East, South Asia, Arms
Control, or trade, with improvements in U.S.-Soviet Relations. The President also
employed triangular diplomacy—Nixon often referred to it as “the game”—to put
pressure on the Soviet Union by improving U.S. relations with the People’s Republic
of China, while denying to Soviet officials that he was doing so. Finally in 1972,
Richard Nixon made his first Presidential visit to Moscow and signed a number of
agreements with the Soviet Union that initiated a period of détente. These new
initiatives and extensive connections between the two superpowers required a
redesign of Foreign Relations coverage of the Soviet Union. The number of documents
printed and the scope of their content were greatly expanded. There are five volumes
for the Soviet Union within the Nixon-Ford subseries, 1969–1976, three of which
document the crucial first Nixon Administration. These volumes document U.S.-Soviet
relations worldwide and more accurately reflect the global nature of the Cold
War.